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BASiCS of tYPe “This is a great book for students of design,
typography or just art in general. It is very comprehensive and easy to follow.” -Steph Goodreads
“Originally designed for ellen Lupton’s typograpy class. By showing type examples and discussing why certain approaches work while others fail Ellen is able to shed some light on typography in a fun informative way” -Stanislav Grinapol See more reviews
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ypography is the study of type and type faces, the evolution of printed letters. Since man did not begin to write with type, but rather the chisel, brush, and pen, it is the study of handwriting, that provides us with the basis for creating type designs. The aim is to show new designers, writers, & students the ways of typography, by learning the elements of letter forms and layout on a page.
The aim is to show new designers, writers, & students the ways of typography, by learning the elements of letter forms and layout on a page. This book is in three sections: Letter, text, grid.
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ANATOMY
ASCeNder The lowercase character stroke which extends above the x-height BAr The horizontal stroke on the characters ‘A’, ‘H’, ‘T’, ‘e’, ‘f ’, ‘t’. BASelINe The imaginary horizontal line to which the body, or main component of characters are aligned BOWl The curved stroke which surrounds a counter. BrACKet A curved line connecting the serif to the stroke
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SIZE
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Height attempts to standardize the measurement of type began in the eighteenth century. The point system is the standard used today. One point equals 1/72 inch or .35 millimetres. Twelve points equal one pica, the unit commonly used to measure column widths. Typography can also be measured in inches, millimetres, or pixels. Most software applications let the designer choose a preferred unit of measure; picas and points are standard defaults. Nerd Alert: Abbreviating Picas and Points 8picas = 8p 8points = p8, 8 pts 8picas, 4 points = 8p4 8point Helvetica with 9pt of line spacing = 8/9 Helvetica Width a letter also has a horizontal measure, called its set width. The set width is the body of the letter plus a sliver of space that protects it from other letters. The width of a letter is intrinsic to the proportions and visual impression of the typeface. Some typefaces have a narrow set width, and some have a wide one. You can change the set width of a typeface by fiddling with its horizontal or vertical scale. This distorts the line weight of the letters,however, forcing heavy elements to become thin, and thin elements to become thick. Instead of torturing a letter form, choose a typeface that has the proportions you are looking for, such as condensed, compressed, wide, or extended.
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SCALE
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Scale is the size of design elements in comparison to other elements in a layout as well as to the physical context of the work. Scale is relative. 12-pt type displayed on a 32-inch monitor can look very small, while 12-pt type printed on a book page can look flabby and overweight. Designers create hierarchy and contrast by playing with the scale of letter forms. Changes in scale help create visual contrast, movement, and depth as well as express hierarchies of importance. Scale is physical. People intuitively judge the size of objects in relation to their own bodies and environments.
The xix amendment Typographic installation at Grand Central Station, New York City, 1995. Designer: Stephen Doyle. Sponsors: The New York State Division of Women, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Revlon, and Merrill Lynch. Large-scale text creates impact in this public installation.
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Type Classification
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A basic system for classifying typefaces was devised in the nineteenth century, when printers sought to identify a heritage for their own craft analogous to that of art history. Humanist letter forms are closely connected to calligraphy and the movement of the hand. Transitional and modern typefaces are more abstract and less organic. These three main groups correspond roughly to the Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment periods in art and literature. Historians and critics of typography have since proposed more finely grained schemes that attempt to better capture the diversity of letter forms. Designers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have continued to create new typefaces based on historic characteristics.
Aa Aa Aa
TRANSITIONAL These typefaces have sharper serifs and a more vertical axis then humanist letters. When the typeface of John Baskerville were introduced in the mid eighteenth century, their sharp forms and high contrast were considered shocking. HUMANIST SANS SERIF Sans serif typefaces became common in the twentieth century. Gill Sans, designed by Eric Gill in 1928 has humanist characteristics. Note the small lilting counter in the letter a and the calligraphic variations in line weight.
GEOMETRIC SANS SERIF Some sans serif types are built around geometric forms. In Futura, designed by Paul Renner in 1927, the Os are perfect circles, and the peaks of the A and M are sharp triangles.
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Type Families
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In the sixteenth century, printers began organizing roman and italic typefaces into matched families. The concept was formalized in the early twentieth century to include styles such as bold, semi bold, and small caps. The Roman form is the core or spine from which a family of typefaces derives.
Adobe Garamond Pro Regular
Italic letters, which are based on cursive writing, have forms distinct from roman Adobe Garamond Pro Italic
small caps have a height that is similar to the lowercase x-height. Adobe Garamond Pro Regular (small caps)
Bold typefaces are used for emphasis within a hierarchy Adobe Garamond Pro Bold
Bold typefaces each need to include an italic version. Adobe Garamond Pro Bold Italic
The roman form also called plain or regular is the standard upright version of a typeface. it is typically conceived as the parent of a larger family. The italic form is used to creat emphasis. Especially among serif faces. It often employs shapes and strokes distinct from its roman counterparts. Small caps are designed to integrate with a line of text, where full size capitals would stand out awkwardly. Small capitals are slightly taller than the x-height of lower letters Bold versions of traditional text fonts were added in the twentieth century to meet the need for emphatic forms. Sans serif families often include a broad range of weights. Bold versions of traditional text fonts were added in the twentieth century to meet the need for emphatic forms. Sans serif families often include a broad range of weights.
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TYPEFACE design
Font lab and other applications allow designers to create functional fonts that work seamlessly with standard software programs such as InDesign and Photoshop. The first step in designing a typeface is to define a basic concept. Will the letters be serif or sans serif ? Will they be modular or organic? Will you construct them geometrically or base them on handwriting? Will you use them for display or for text? Will you work with historic source material or invent the characters more or less from scratch? The next step is to create drawings. Some designers start with pencil before working digitally, while others build their letter forms directly with fontdesign software.
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Font Formats
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ÅÁÀÂÄÃÇÉÈ ÊËÍÌÎÏÑÓÒÔ ÖØÚÙÛÜŸ åáàâäãçéèê ëíìîïñóòôöø õúùüÿ Where do fonts come from, and why are there so many different formats? Some come loaded with your computer’s operating system, while others are bundled with software packages. A few of these widely distributed typefaces are of the highest quality, such as Adobe Garamond Pro and Hoefler Text, while others (including Comic Sans, Apple Chancery, and Papyrus) are reviled by design snobs everywhere. If you want to expand your vocabulary beyond this familiar fare, you will need to purchase fonts from digital type foundries. These range from large establishments like Adobe and FontShop, which license thousands of different typefaces, to independent producers that distribute just a few, such as Underware in the Netherlands or Jeremy Tankard Typography in the U.K. You can also learn to make your own fonts as well as find fonts that are distributed for free online. The different font formats reflect technical innovations and business arrangements developed over time. Older font formats are still
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Numerals
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Lining numerals take up uniform widths of space, enabling the numbers to line up when tabulated in columns. They were introduced around the turn of the twentieth century to meet the needs of modern business. Lining numerals are the same height as capital letters, so they sometimes look big and bulky when appearing in running text. Non-lining numerals, also called text or old style numerals, have ascenders and descenders, like lowercase letters. Non-lining numerals returned to favour in the 1990s, valued for their idiosyncratic appearance and their traditional typographic attitude. Like letter forms, old style numerals are proportional; each one has its own set width.
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Kerning
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Takes Two Takes Two Warm Type Warm Type LOVE LETTERS LOVE LETTERS Spacing appears uneven, with gaps around T/a & T/w
Spacing appears more even between T/a & T/w
Italic, spacing appears uneven between W/a & T/y
Italic, spacing appears more even between W/a & T/y
All Capitals is tight between T/T
All Capitals improved spacing between T/T
Kerning is an adjustment of the space between two letters. The characters of the Latin alphabet emerged over time; they were never designed with mechanical or automated spacing in mind. Thus some letter combinations look awkward without special spacing considerations. Gaps occur, for example, around letters whose forms angle outward or frame an open space (W, Y, V, T). In metal type, a kerned letter extends past the lead slug that supports it, allowing two letters to fit more closely together. In digital fonts, the space between letter pairs is controlled by a kerning table created by the type designer, which specifies spac-
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Variations
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The distance from the baseline of one line of type to another is called line spacing or leading, in reference to the strips of lead used to separate lines of metal type. The default setting in most layout and imaging software is 120 percent of the type size. Thus 10-pt type is set with 12 pts of line spacing. Designers play with line spacing in order to create distinctive typographic arrangements. Reducing the standard distance creates a denser typographic colour, while risking collisions between ascenders and descenders Garamond 11pt type with 7pts line spacing
The distance from the baseline of one line of type to another is called line spacing or leading, in reference to the strips of lead used to separate lines of metal type. The default setting in most layout and imaging software is 120 percent of the type size. Thus 10-pt type is set with 12 pts of line spacing. Designers play with line spacing in order to create distinctive typographic arrangements. Reducing the standard distance creates a denser typographic colour, while risking collisions between ascenders and descenders Garamond 11pt type with 9pts line spacing
The distance from the baseline of one line of type to another is called line spacing or leading, in reference to the strips of lead used to separate lines of metal type. The default setting in most layout and imaging software is 120 percent of the type size. Thus 10-pt type is set with 12 pts of line spacing. Designers play with line spacing in order to create distinctive typographic arrangements. Reducing the standard distance creates a denser typographic colour, while risking collisions between ascenders and descenders Garamond 11pt type with 12pts line spacing
The distance from the baseline of one line of type to another is called line spacing or leading, in reference to the strips of lead used to separate lines of metal type. The default setting in most layout and imaging software is 120 percent of the type size. Thus 10-pt type is set with 12 pts of line spacing. Designers play with line spacing in order to create distinctive typographic arrangements. Reducing the standard distance creates a denser typographic colour, while risking collisions between ascenders and descenders Garamond 11pt type with 16pts line spacing
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hierarchy
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BOLD ITALIC UNDERLINED CAPS A typographic hierarchy expresses the organization of content, emphasizing some elements and subordinating others. A visual hierarchy helps readers scan a text, knowing where to enter and exit and how to pick and choose among its offerings. Each level of the hierarchy should be signaled by one or more cues, applied consistently across a body of text. A cue can be spatial (indent, line spacing, placement) or graphic (size, style, colour). Infinite variations are possible. Writers are trained to avoid redundancy as seen in the expressions “future plans” or “past history.” In typography, some redundancy is acceptable, even recommended. For example, paragraphs are traditionally marked with a line break and an indent, a redundancy that has proven quite practical, as each signal provides backup for the other. To create an elegant economy of signals, try using no more than three cues for each level or break in a document. Emphasizing a word or phrase within a body of text usually requires only one signal. Italic is the standard form of emphasis. There are many alternatives, however, including boldface, small caps, or a change in colour. A full-range type family such as Scala has many weight and style variations designed to work together. You can also create emphasis with a different font. If you want to mix font families, such as Scala and Helvetica, adjust the sizes so that the x-heights align.
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Tracking
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Adjusting the overall spacing of a group of letters is called tracking or letters pacing. By expanding the tracking across a word, line, or entire block of text, the designer can create a more airy, open field. In blocks of text, tracking is usually applied in small increments, creating a subtle effect not noticeable to the casual reader. Occasionally, are used within a line. Negative tracking, rarely desirable in text sizes, can be used sparingly to help bring up a short line of text. White type on a black background is considered more legible when it is tracked. Normal Tracking Letters do love one another. However, due to their anatomical differences, some letters have a hard time achieving intimacy. Consider the letter V, for example, whose seductive valley makes her limbs stretch out above her base. In contrast, L solidly holds his ground yet harbors a certain emptiness above the waist. Capital letters, being square and conservative, prefer to keep a little distance from their neighbours. Positive Tracking +20 Letters do love one another. However, due to their anatomical differences, some letters have a hard time achieving intimacy. Consider the letter V, for example, whose seductive valley makes her limbs stretch out above her base. In contrast, L solidly holds his ground yet harbours a certain emptiness above the waist. Capital letters, being square and conservative, prefer to keep a little distance from their neighbours. Negative Tracking -20 Letters do love one another. However, due to their anatomical differences, some letters have a hard time achieving intimacy. Consider the letter V, for example, whose seductive valley makes her limbs stretch out above her base. In contrast, L solidly holds his ground yet harbours a certain emptiness above the waist. Capital letters, being square and conservative, prefer to keep a little distance from their neighbours.
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Golden Section
The golden section, which appears in nature as well as in art and design, has many surprising properties. For example, when you remove a square from a golden rectangle, the remainder is another golden rectangle, a process that can be infinitely repeated to create a spiral.
No book about typography would be complete without a discussion of the golden section, a ratio (relationship between two numbers) that has been used in Western art and architecture for more than two thousand years. The formula for the golden sec-